For first-time indexers - prompt to share first-ever batch with Indexing Chat before submitting
Today in Indexing Chat, there's a thread where we've been commiserating and offering emotional support for reviewers who are frustrated with batches where the indexer seems to have meant well but had no idea how to index correctly, making all sorts of basic errors.
It got me thinking about how much I value personal feedback from other indexers, and how getting that really helped me when I first started indexing. However, with many people deciding to try indexing on their own these days, they don't have someone looking over their shoulder or a phone call away who can help them learn those first ropes of indexing. FS has provided a great deal in the way of tutorials and resources, but from what I've seen, it simply can't compare to the fundamental training given by that personalized feedback. And if you don't personally know an experienced indexer who can help you, I think Indexing Chat is your next greatest resource.
That was when this idea popped into my head: Is there some way to make so, upon a user completing their first ever indexing batch, a prompt can come up suggesting that they share their batch (with instructions on how) with Indexing Chat so other indexers can review their work and let them know how they did? I think doing so would really help mitigate the number of new indexers who index dozens or even hundreds of batches, not even knowing they're doing anything wrong, and then creating headaches for reviewers who may even have to send the batches back for re-indexing. It's also a terrible waste of time and resources--just think of how much more quickly projects would be completed if overall, indexers were indexing at, say, 90% accuracy and up.
I'm not sure how feasible this is from a coding perspective--I'm just trying to brainstorm ways to connect indexers with human resources who can help them learn how to index correctly from the beginning, so they don't waste so much time (and give reviewers such a hard time). And I know it would lead to an influx of such review requests on Indexing Chat, but surely taking the time to help someone index one batch is preferable to a reviewer getting super frustrated and having to return tons of batches.
Comments
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I've always thought that letting indexers view the results of the reviewing of their work would be enormously beneficial. Also, Reviewers should be able to, in the case of serious errors, to write a message to the Indexer. I've posted this view many times on the old "GetSatisfaction" forum.
My opinion is that making 1st time indexers have to get their first batch specially checked would be not be ideal. As frustrating as it is for Reviewers to have to fix up bad indexing, and as wasteful as it is for the Indexing system, I believe this idea would put off and slow down "good" indexers and not be an efficient use of resources. Perhaps restricting new indexers to "Beginning" projects in their native language for their first 5 batches would be a better way to prevent mistakes while making it possible for new indexers to work independently without being held up by checks.
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